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Windows 7: Folder and document management in Windows 7

I need assistance in understanding the folder management and library system in Windows 7. I will say at the outset that I am not a techie by any stretch of the imagination so a reply in plain English would be much appreciated as well as some patience with my lack of knowledge ! In Windows XP, folder and document management were simple. You set up a folder within the network structure or library and saved a document to that folder. To retrieve that saved document, you could either go the folder in the network structure and double click on the required document or if in the most recently used, open from that list.When you saved the amended document with Save As, the system clearly showed the document’s path i.e. for example, C/User name/Folder name/Document name.All seems different and far more complicated with Windows 7 and it is understanding Windows 7 methodology that I need help with.The view below of the Libraries network - C\Users\Ruth contains 21 folders and documents re User Ruth:

This view below for User Ruth/My Documents shows 289 documents

1. What are the differences between the above two libraries ?2. Why do some saved documents appear in both libraries but other documents appear in one library only?3. Is there a Time lapse between saving a document to one library and it appearing in both libraries ?4. Taking the Excel document Recordsofpayment14-15 as an example, when using Save As, the first of the two above library displays as the Save path. It is the second library display above where this spreadsheet should be saved. How do I get the second library option to display to save?

Thanks for your helpPaul 27/5/14

PS I have attempted to paste images of the Library network using the Snipping Tool but I cannot get them to show in this post

Libraries and folders are different. Libraries let you access and arrange items from one or more folders quickly without moving them from their original location. Libraries themselves don't store your files or folders. Instead, they point to different locations on a hard disk or external drive attached to your computer. This gives you easy access to a category of files no matter where they are stored. For instance, if you have music files on your hard disk and on an external drive, you can access all of your music files from within the "Music" library.

Until I see a screenshot of what you mean, I believe that your library is just grouped by folder path. Clicking on "Group by" and "(None)" will have all the included folders in the library show their content together in the library instead.

I need assistance in understanding the folder management and library system in Windows 7. I will say at the outset that I am not a techie by any stretch of the imagination so a reply in plain English would be much appreciated as well as some patience with my lack of knowledge ! In Windows XP, folder and document management were simple. You set up a folder within the network structure or library and saved a document to that folder. To retrieve that saved document, you could either go the folder in the network structure and double click on the required document or if in the most recently used, open from that list.When you saved the amended document with Save As, the system clearly showed the document’s path i.e. for example, C/User name/Folder name/Document name.All seems different and far more complicated with Windows 7 and it is understanding Windows 7 methodology that I need help with.The view below of the Libraries network - C\Users\Ruth contains 21 folders and documents re User Ruth:

1. What are the differences between the above two libraries ?2. Why do some saved documents appear in both libraries but other documents appear in one library only?3. Is there a Time lapse between saving a document to one library and it appearing in both libraries ?4. Taking the Excel document Recordsofpayment14-15 as an example, when using Save As, the first of the two above library displays as the Save path. It is the second library display above where this spreadsheet should be saved. How do I get the second library option to display to save?

Paul, it is much easier to use the snipping tool to mark out the area you want, save to desktop as PNG or JPG, and attach the file to your post. The way you are doing it at present requires the reader to have a modern version of Microsoft Office, or other software that can read Office files, in order to be able to see your attachments.

A library in Windows 7 or later is not a storage location. Instead it is a shortcut which when opened in File Explorer shows content of pre-selected folders in one view. By default Windows has four libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos), each of these libraries contain by default both the user's own and the Public user's (shared with all users) respective folders.

By default, for instance the user Sam's Documents library shows the content of C:\Users\Sam\My Documents and C:\Users\Public\Public Documents. Let's say user Sam has stored only one document in his personal Documents folder, called Letter_to_Mom.doc, and also the Public Documents folder contains only one file called Mom's_letter_to_the_Family.doc. Now if Sam looks the content of C:\Users\Sam\My Documents, he can only see one file, the Letter_to_Mom.doc, but if he opens his Documents library, he can see both Letter_to_Mom.doc and Mom's_letter_to_the_Family.doc because the library shows everything in all folders included in that library.

An example Windows setup: We have two users, Max and Sam, plus the Public (common) user. User files are stored in C:\Users\Max, C:\Users\Sam and C:\Users\Public. Additionally the computer has two folders for shared movie and music files, C:\Music and C:\Movies.

Sam has set up his Documents library to contain folders C:\Users\Sam\My Documents and C:\Users\Public\Public Documents (red lines in screenshot below), and his Video library to contain folders C:\Users\Sam\My Videos, C:\Users\Public\Public Videos and C:\Movies (green lines in screenshot below):

(Click image to enlarge.)

When Sam now opens his Videos library, he sees all content in all three folders included in this library. If he only wants to see videos stored in his own personal My Videos folder but not those in Public Videos and C:\Movies, he needs to open his personal My Videos folder instead of the Videos library.

Editing the settings of a library Sam can now select which folders will be included in it, and when a library is selected as the Save As location, in which of the folders it includes the saved content is stored. Tutorials:

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